Rs 30 lakh fine, jail in draft Bill to curb sale of low-quality seeds

“On and from the date of commencement of this Act, no seed of any kind or variety except farmers’ variety and kind or variety produced exclusively for export purpose shall, for the purpose of sowing or planting by any person, be sold unless such kind or variety is registered in the manner referred to under sub-section (2) of section 14,” states Section 13 of the draft.

However, existing varieties notified under section 5 of the existing Seeds Act, 1966, shall be deemed to be registered under the new law. There was no provision of compulsory registration in the existing law.

The draft proposes stringent penal provisions and has offences in three categories — trivial, minor and major. Among the major offences are supply of “any spurious seeds”; supply of seeds of non-registered kind or varieties; and “doing the Business without registration as dealer or distributor or producer or seed processing or plant nursery”.

For these major offences, the draft Bill proposes a maximum penalty of Rs 30 lakh and imprisonment for a term, which may extend up to three years. The Bill seeks to regulate the quality of seeds for sale and import, to facilitate production, and supply of quality seeds.

The Ministry has invited comments on the draft till December 11. The government had brought Seeds Bills in 2004 and 2019, but they couldn’t become law.